Five Questions Heading Into Louisville's Fall Camp

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At this point in time, it seems like Louisville football's bowl game against Air Force to end the 2021 season was years ago. But the long and torturous offseason is almost in the rear view mirror.

The Cardinals are set to begin their two-week long fall camp on Wednesday, Aug. 3, ahead of their 2022 season-opener in upstate New York against Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 3.

Heading into Scott Satterfield's fourth season as the head coach, there are no shortage of storylines. Here are our five biggest questions surrounding the Louisville football program heading into the start of fall camp:

Can the wide receivers create a more impactful passing game after another offseason of turnover at the position?

On the offensive side of the ball for Louisville, there aren't many questions that need asking. Malik Cunningham is one of the most underrated quarterbacks in all of college football, the running back room is incredibly deep, and the offensive line very well could be the best in the ACC.

But in the wide receiver room, there are some unknowns. For the second offseason in a row, the position saw a moderate amount of turnover. Jordan Watkins, Tyler Harrell and Justin Marshall, who were three of the top four wideouts for the Cardinals last season in terms of receiving yards, all entered the transfer portal to wind up at new schools.

Last offseason, Louisville was entering the season with an extremely young wide receiver room. Fortunately, this time around they do have some experience in both the guys that did return and the players they landed in the portal.

Ahmari Huggins-Bruce is Louisville's top returner and could be in line for a massive breakout year after hauling in 29 receptions for 444 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman. Braden Smith is also back, who was in line to be key piece of the passing game before getting hurt early in the year. Tyler Hudson has drawn rave reviews since transferring from FCS Central Arkansas, and Dee Wiggins is in line to start after a few years at Miami.

That being said, Louisville still ranked 65th in FBS in passing offense last season at 236.4 yards per game. There is more relative experience in the room than there was this time last year, but there are still a lot of new pieces (including four freshmen) for Malik Cunningham to work with. Time will tell how impactful the receiving corps will be this time around.

Will the defensive line take that next step they are capable of making?

Over the last few years, one of the more underwhelming position groups on the Louisville roster has been the defensive line. While the Cardinals did finish in the top 50 nationally in the top 50 in both team sacks and tackles for loss, a lot of that production came from the linebacking corps. Not to mention there were times last year where the D-line struggled to generate push against some of the more prolific teams they faced last year.

But as we head into the 2022 season, there is reason to believe that Louisville's defensive line could look markedly better. First of all, Louisville has a bonafide NFL nose tackle in the form of Jermayne Lole, and landing him from Arizona State might have been the biggest transfer portal win by the Cardinals this cycle. Not to mention that Dez Tell has taken huge steps forward in terms of bulking up, and Caleb Banks is a breakout candidate.

Louisville also has a good starting defensive end tandem. YaYa Diaby might have only notched 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, but he added seven quarterback hurries to just barely miss out on adding to that total, and a year under new strength coach Ben Sowders could help turn hurries into sacks. Plus, Ashton Gillotte was arguably Louisville's best true freshman last year, putting up 8.0 TFL's and 4.0 sacks while missing some time due to injury.

Add in some solid depth pieces like Ramon Puryear, Mason Reiger and Ryheem Craig, and there is reason to believe that Louisville could finally get the push they have been so desperately needing out of the defensive line. The pieces are there, they just just need to deliver. They could be the difference between a winning season and a losing season.

How will the retooled secondary perform after a down 2021 showing?

Not a lot went right in 2020, largely thanks to the egregious amount of turnovers, but one thing that did was the effort and execution from the secondary. Louisville held teams to just 189.2 passing yards per game, which was good for the 17th-best passing defense in FBS.

Then comes 2021, and that production went in the complete opposite direction. Last year, the Cardinals turned in a passing defense that fell all the way to 95th nationally after allowing 245.6 passing yards per game. Losing Kei'Trel Clark to a season-ending knee injury played a role in this, but he didn't get hurt until late in the season.

Not to mention this was before both Kani Walker and Greedy Vance entered the portal, two guys who were very much expected to compete for starting jobs this upcoming season. Add in Qwynnterrio Cole leaving for the NFL and Chandler Jones having an incredibly disappointing year, and that left the secondary with some major holes that needed addressing.

To Louisville's credit, they did a good job in the portal when it came to the secondary. Quincy Riley was one of the best Group of Five corners last year, Jarvis Brownlee, Jr. was one of FSU's best defensive backs, and the coaching staff has raved about M.J. Griffin since he came over from Temple.

There is potential for a rebound. Clark, Jones and Kenderick Duncan are back, Josh Minkins took a major step forward in spring ball, and the new talent could give the secondary the jolt it needs. With the amount of players that have shuffled in that area of the field, it will be an interesting transition to monitor - one that could pay off massive dividends or blow up spectacularly.

Can Louisville as a whole overcome their fourth quarter/second half woes from 2021?

If turnovers were the prevailing theme of the 2020 season, then a lack of ability to finish games was the theme last season. There were multiple games where Louisville very much had a chance to win, but faltered in the most crucial moments. Failing to capitalize on golden opportunities against Wake Forest, the atrocious collapse against Virginia, the goal-line stand against Clemson and the inability to remain competitive in the fourth quarter of a tight game against NC State are all examples of this.

No one side of the ball bares all of the blame for the crunch time failures. There were many times where the offense had opportunities to score touchdowns, but had to settle for field goals that proved to be the difference. Goal-line offense was sub-optimal at times. The defense struggled mightily on third down and in the red zone. After a while, you could make the argument that some of this boiled down to mental errors.

To Louisville's credit, that is something that the staff has been working on addressing over the offseason. They've placed an emphasis on finish practices strong by implementing new end-of-practice drills, and have worked on the mental aspect of it as well.

There is reason to believe that some of these issues when it comes to fourth quarter woes will get fixed. After last season's turnover margin problems, the implemented a "turnover gauntlet" during spring practice and fall camp, which made a tremendous improvement in that department. That doesn't necessarily mean that last season's late game issues won't be magically cured, but it does give some optimism that it will at least get better.

Will the coaching staff take a step forward when it comes to situational play-calling and consistency?

To be 100 percent fair to the players, a lot of Louisville's issues last year were not completely their fault, and the coaching staff does bare some blame here too.

While the "vanilla" and "predictable" play-calling from 2020 did get much better, it was still prevalent at times - especially on third downs and in the red zone. It took defensive coordinator Bryan Brown until midway through the season to actually dial up consistant pressure and start phasing away from utilizing a three-man rush on nearly every third down play.

It seems that Scott Satterfield did get the message that he and the staff must improve themselves, and made some crucial hires. Unlike last year where Louisville operated with no offensive coordinator, he went out and hired one with significant Power Five experience in Lance Taylor. He also did the same on the defensive side of the ball, bringing in Wes McGriff to be the co-defensive coordinator.

Both moves are good for Louisville for more than just the experience that Taylor and McGriff bring. Taylor has allowed the offensive chain of command to be more streamlined, and has actually taken a lot off of Satterfield's plate. Having both McGriff and Brown as defensive coordinators allows for an extra set of eyes to help make better decisions in crucial defensive situations.

Now, this all has to come together. Louisville could easily still have these issues if the wrong coaching decisions are made by any party. The Cardinals have the talent on both sides of the ball to produce a winning season, and the coaches - including Satterfield - have to put them in the best position to win.

(Photo via University of Louisville Athletics)

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